St. Paul teacher sentenced for running over tot

A St. Paul teacher who ran over and injured a 2-year-old girl while driving drunk was sentenced Thursday to 90 days in the Ramsey County jail.

Hamjatta Fofana, 53, can serve the time on home electronic monitoring, if eligible, under the sentence from Ramsey County District Judge Robyn Millenacker. She also fined him $3,000 and put him on probation for two years.

Fofana, who has been an English as a second language teacher with the St. Paul public schools since 1993, had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.32 percent, four times the legal limit, about an hour after hitting the girl in the parking lot of an East Side apartment building in April.

The girl was covered in dirt and missing a quarter-size portion of her scalp, but police said she was in good condition the following day.

According to the charges, the girl's father had stopped Fofana from moving the car while the girl was underneath. Fofana then drove off, the charges say. Officers said that they had to subdue him with a Taser when they found him at his apartment nearby.

Fofana pleaded guilty last month to a gross misdemeanor count of criminal vehicular operation as part of a plea deal in which two other counts -- one a felony -- were dismissed.

On Thursday, St. Paul schools spokeswoman Toya Stewart Downey said that Fofana remains on paid administrative leave. No decisions have been made about his employment with the district, she said.

Friday's the day to get the shovels at the ready and prime the snowblower. Both will be needed as a weekend storm will bring the first significant snowfall of the season to the Twin Cities and parts of the state.